Chronic Severe Pain After Knee Revision Replacement
The last time I wrote Knee 1 was in April 2006. And I am still suffering and feel like no one is listening. My doctor kept on telling me the pain would get better with time. Wrong!! If anything it has gotten worse. The surgeon sent me to pain management which was a big waste of time because that doctor said my xrays, mri, bonescan, and bloodwork results do not warrant pain medication. And neither he nor the orthopaedic surgeon can explain why I am in so much pain. My orthopaedic surgeon wants to refer me to another orthopaedic surgeon because he doesn't know what to do with me and they give me a big hassle about giving me pain medication. Could it bebecause they operated on the same knee three times in 2 1/2 years??? It is ultrasensitive to the touch and hurts 24/7 and keeps me up at night also. I am currently working 4 hours a day on my normally fulltime teller job and even that is difficult. Out of desperation I have called the Hospital for Special Surgeries in New York but they have not gotten back with me yet. I too am desperate for help. I feel like my surgeon has not been very supportive as I am a problem patient and apparently if you aren't the perfect knee replacement patient the doctors do not know what to do. This has been hell for me and my family as my quality of life stinks (cannot even clean my own house) and very frustrating. If the orthopaedic surgeons are going to perform these surgeries then they need to learn what to do for patients who have continuing problems afterwards. And maybe they should tell you that a cementless implant might not take which is what happened with my first tkr. All he told me was all positive things about it. He never once said it may not take and I think that is part of my problem that I had to have it redone a year and a half later. That's a lot of trauma to that knee! If anyone has any answers please let me know. I'm open to any suggestions.
From:
Nora Higgins - rhiggins1@neo.rr.com